Subconscious
by Hyperintelligent Shade of Blue
Summary: Edd's having nightmares... what's going on inside that head of his? Jonny and Plank know. (Chapter Two now up!)
1. Sleeper

Subconscious

By Dani

Author's Note: This was done for a challenge on the Ed Edd 'n' Eddy Slash YGroup. Love ya guys! Heh... If anyone thinks this is worthy of continuation, speak up. I just think it's weird enough to maybe work...

Disclaimer: If I owned these bois, Eddy would get time out, Ed would get a chicken, and Edd would get a better lab than Dexter's... cause I like making bois happy. ^_^  But I ownn't, they belong to Cartoon Network.

~*~

This dream was familiar territory, but no less terrifying for his experience with it. There were screeching things that cried out in pained voices and ran into things in their horror. He was surrounded in black—-formless, deep, thick black that had no weight, no mass, and yet seemed to weigh on his skin, to fill his lungs, to coat his mouth and nose with the darkness he so feared...

"Don't worry about those things that go bump in the night, Double D. I've been dealing with them a lot longer than you."

Jonny's voice... but how? He'd had this dream hundreds of times, and no one had ever intervened before... The slight scratchiness of unfinished wood brushed the back of his hand, and Edd instinctively gripped on. The dream was changing. Maybe this time he wouldn't die in the dark again.

"Don't worry anymore, Double D. Plank's got you." The young voice was as calm and reassuring as Edd's own mind was restless and nervy. He held on tightly to Plank and opened his eyes to the light.

Jonny smiled and patted Edd's cheek softly. "You had me scared for a second. Plank said you almost gave in to the darkness again." The two boys and the piece of wood stood together, quietly surveying the landscape around them—Jonny with serenity, Plank with some inscrutable emotion, and Edd with a sudden recognizance.

"This is the place I used to dream of... Where I caught my first bug, and learned to tell trees by their leaves and bark.... All my scientific leanings started in my dreams here." He crouched down and ran his fingers through the grass. "What is going on here?"

Jonny leaned closer to Plank and held a whispered conversation with his wooden pal. Finally, he nodded. "Double-D, you were losing your sense of wonder. All your research and scientific knowledge made you feel jaded with the universe... This place is your wonder, but the darkness was eating away at it. All the little wonders you kept here turned into your little fears and neuroses...the screaming things."

"Losing my sense of wonder..." Edd just barely stopped himself from going on with "That's absurd!" He realized, with no small shock, that it was true. Between Eddy's schemes and Ed's routine oddness and his own studies and problems, he was fast becoming unimpressed with the world.

"Plank and I have been trying to help you for a while now... almost a few months. You fought us every step of the way, like you wanted to stay in the darkness..." Jonny sat down next to Edd and stared upwards into the clear sky. "Look. All the birds and bugs that used to be here are gone. You have to make an effort to get this place back like it was, Double D. I'll help you, if you want."

"Would you? Please?" Edd could feel the darkness under the edges of this utopian scene, and he was frightened. He had to fight it. There was no way he could let it win... Jonny smiled and closed Edd's hands around Plank.

"Plank is an expert at these things, Double D! Just listen and he'll tell you what to do. I can tell you the first thing, though..." The tanned boy leaned closer and murmured in Edd's ear softly, "Let yourself be surprised now and then." He swiftly pressed a light kiss to the corner of Edd's lips.

In a town called Peach Creek, in a house on a cul-de-sac, a boy with a hat and a secret woke up staring at his ceiling in shock. He tried to convince himself it had been merely a dream without significance. When he rolled on his side to try to sleep again, however, he realized that a solid piece of wood was held tightly in his arms.

~*~end~*~


	2. Awaken

Subconscious: Chapter Two

By Dani

Author's Note: People liked part one a lot... so here's more! I hope y'all like this as much as you liked part one.

Disclaimer: If I owned these bois, Edd would take his hat off and Johnny would be able to annoy the Kankers without repercussion... cause I like making bois happy. ^_^  But I ownn't, they belong to Cartoon Network, and I make nothing but happiness off this little venture.

~*~

Edd stared at Plank, wide-eyed. How had the wooden board gotten into his bed? The painted eyes stared back at him calmly, bringing details rushing back. The dream... The terrors so well-known, the surprising rescue and even more surprising revelations afterwards... One hand stole up to brush the side of his lips. Jonny. And Plank... and here was the silent companion of the cul-de-sac's mystic boy.

~not so silent as you think~ The voice that murmured in Edd's head was one he'd never heard before; a soft giggling tenor voice that couldn't possibly be real, could it? And as he thought that, the voice ceased. See? Not real. Couldn't be. _Let yourself be surprised now and then... Jonny's words repeated for Edd as he tried to remember the dream clearly. __Just listen and he'll tell you what to do... Oh, who was he fooling? All science was useless if he went too crazy to handle it, and the more convinced of it he was, the crazier he got. Edd tried hesitantly to open his mind again. Why did Plank's pen-line smile look so disapproving now?_

~you didn't have to do that, double d~ Plank sounded almost offended. ~i can tell that you're going to be difficult about this~

"I can't really help it... I'm just used to being skeptical." The sky outside was still dark, but the birds were beginning to wake up with sleepy chirps. His ear picked out the individual species by the sound of their calls without really thinking about it...

~this is a good place to start~ Plank seemed to smirk. ~stop thinking scientifically and just hear the birds for the sound of them~ 

"I... I wasn't being scientific! Not on purpose," Edd trailed off miserably. "How do you expect me to stop hearing bluebird, chickadee, crow, and just hear 'bird noise'?"

~not noise, you _scientist~ The label was filled with such disdain and scorn that Edd was startled. ~they're making morning music and you don't even listen to them, not many humans do anymore~_

"Fine. I'll try." Turning onto his side, Edd moved Plank onto the pillow in front of him.

~don't bother if you're only going to try, you have to _do~ Plank almost reconsidered his Yoda-like admonishment, but decided it was the best he could do right now._

"You're not making this any easier, you know." Edd was miffed with Plank's expectations. It wasn't easy to change one's view of the world...

~i never said this would be easy, and neither did Jonny~ The tenor thoughts were starting to sound sharp and annoyed. 

"I wish he was here. He'd be easier to deal with than you," Edd sighed. He didn't realize his hand was lifting until his fingers passed over his lips again, and he shook his head in confusion. "Maybe not. Okay. Bird songs...." Dark eyes closed, shutting out the orange glare of the sodium street lights and the pale luminescence of the glow-in-the-dark universe he'd painted on his ceiling years before and the patiently mocking smile Plank directed at him. _Bird songs, bird songs, birdsongs birdsongsbirdsongs.... And then the sharp trill stopped sounding like 'bluebird' and became a smooth arpeggio that resolved the dissonance between the croaking caw from the right and the high twittering that echoed the length of the phone lines, and it was __music, more natural and ethereal than anything an instrument made by human hands could produce. "Plank, I hear it!" he whispered excitedly._

~i know, the birds are back in the sky~ Plank sounded as thrilled as Edd felt. ~bird songs!~ 

When Edd opened his eyes again, the sun had risen and was hanging in the sky, a huge glowing golden ball surrounded by wisps of amber and violet and rose. The sky was the color of a new buttercup behind the clouds. "How long was I listening for?" he wondered aloud. It hadn't felt long...

~two or three hours, not long~ Plank cheerfully informed him. ~that's excellent progress, double d~ Edd glanced at his bedside clock. It was only 5:29, there was still time to sleep...

He didn't fear his dreams for a second as he shifted his head on the pillow and dropped off into slumber. Plank smiled from his place next to the boy, listening to the quiet whistle of his breathing. ~he's a good kid~ The birds continued to chirp outside as the piece of wood thought for a while longer. ~i just hope he's as good for Jonny     ~

~end chapter two~


End file.
